Community
Huron Poet Laureate
In collaboration with the Huron City Council and the Huron Department of Parks and Recreation, the Huron Public Library serves as the administrative home of the Poet Laureate Program, assisting with the biennial selection process, public programming, and specific goals of the Poet Laureate, as well as historical record keeping. Poet Laureates are named when an individual in the community shows poetic merit.
Current Poet Laureate
Bob Reynolds
In 2018, Robert Reynolds was selected to be Huron’s fifth Poet Laureate. Robert is a Northeast Ohio native that spent his career travelling the Great Lakes as an officer in the Merchant Marine. When the sailor returned from sea, he settled in his favorite port of call: Huron, Ohio. Here, he and his wife Shirley raised their family. His appointment as laureate stems from his use of poetry at civic events, and his occasional poems have become a meaningful part of the city’s Memorial Day observances. Robert has published a poetry book titled Poetic Journey. He also paints and displayed an exhibition of paintings in the Huron Public Library Gallery in May, 2019. He has plans to publish another poetry book in the future.
Past Poet Laureates
Joel D. Rudinger
April 1, 2014 - March 31, 2017
Joel D. Rudinger taught creative writing at Bowling Green State University Firelands College from 1968 until 2013. Rudinger is a highly lauded poet with poems appearing in national literary magazines and reviews including New York Quarterly, New Wave Magazine, The Lamp Magazine, Alaska Quarterly Review, Heartland Magazine, and others. As an editor, he published the Firelands Arts Review from 1972 through 1981 and Waterlines in 1990 and 1992. Rudinger holds degrees from the University of Alaska, the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and Bowling Green State University. Check out his books First Edition: 40 Poems, Sedna: Goddess of the Sea, and Lovers and Celebrations from the Huron Public Library.
Ron Ruble
April 1, 2011 - March 31, 2014
Ron Ruble is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Humanities at Bowling Green State University Firelands College. He is the father of two sons, Eric and Kristofer, a grandfather of six, and a great-grandfather of one. Ruble is a 1962 graduate of Otterbein College and holds a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University. He is an award winning playwright, poet, and fiction writer. His work has been featured in Grand Lake Review, The Heartlands Today, Poet’s Corner, and Verse Magazine. His writing can be found in anthologies by Bottom Dog Press, Cader Publishing, Doll Printing Press, Eber & Wein Publishing, Iliad Press, Noble House, Quill Books, and Watermark Press. As Huron Poet Laureate, Ruble started his Words Walk initiative to promote the writing and reading of poetry at local schools. He also initiated the poetry mission adopted by the First Presbyterian Church in Huron with four public poetry readings per year.
Rob Smith
April 1, 2009 - March 31, 2011
Rob Smith is the author of six novels, but has been recognized for his poetry. In 2006, he won the Robert Frost Poetry Award given by the Frost Foundation in Lawrence, MA. As Huron Poet Laureate, Smith served during the city’s Bicentennial in 2010 and the poems he wrote for city events are included in his collection, The Immigrant’s House. When not writing, Smith enjoys sailing and refurbishing his home built in the 1850s. Smith holds an undergraduate degree from Westminster College in Pennsylvania and master and doctoral degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. Check out his collections of poetry Mzungu, Hello, and The Immigrant’s House from the Huron Public Library.
Larry Smith
April 1, 2008 - March 31, 2009
Dr. Larry Smith is professor emeritus of English and Humanities at Bowling Green State University Firelands College. He is also director of the Firelands Writing Center and the director of Bottom Dog Press Inc. Smith is a published author, poet, critic, and screenwriter with eight books of poetry and five books of fiction. As a reviewer and editor, he has edited six anthologies for Bottom Dog Press Inc. and he has acted as managing editor of Heartlands Magazine. He is a member of the Academy of American Poets and a recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship for criticism. He and his wife, Ann, are both from Mingo Junction, Ohio, in the industrial Ohio River Valley and have lived in Huron since 1970. Check out his novels The Free Farm, The Long River Home, and Beyond Rust from the Huron Public Library.
Contact Info
333 Williams St.
Huron, Ohio 44839